The International Standard for Interoperable Identity Management Systems

The digital ID in Monaco, built into the new electronic ID card which can be used on a smartphone or PC, is based on a process that starts with physical enrolment and ends with the delivery of physical and digital identification, allowing Monaco citizens and residents the option to have their own digital identity when they want, or to renew their national identity. Designed to straddle the physical and digital worlds, the Monaco digital (mobile) ID enables high level authentication with qualified signatures and is based on a modular service architecture making extensive use of open standards such as OSIA and OIDC.

NIDS enable the capture and storage of personal and biometric identity information for citizens and residents. It is the pillar to support reliable and robust identity assurance and verification and includes an ID Management System to capture biometric data, generate a NIN and build a population registry, a Biometric verification services gateway, a National eID Card based on NIN and a Digital ID Wallet companion. The architecture leverages open standards including OSIA.

Approximately 40% of the population of Guinea are undocumented, lacking any formal identity. This group is therefore unable to access government support. As part of a wide-ranging National Economic and Social Development Plan (PNDES), Guinea plans to introduce a ‘beneficiary card’ to provide previously undocumented citizens with access to a range of financial services and social rights. Led by Guinea’s National Agency for Economic and Social Inclusion (ANIES), and following a census and biometric enrolment program, an OSIA-based population registry will form the basis of an open and interoperable identity system able to interface with government departments and service providers across the country.

Facilitating access to Nigeria’s national identity program, African software company and OSIA member Urban Identity has developed the Nigeria NIMC Mobile ID Ecosystem. This allows citizens to have their Unique ID verified against the country’s National Identity Registry near-instantly and securely via an OSIA interface. Launched in December 2020, the App has been downloaded 3.3 million times in 90 days, with download rates exceeding 180 000 per day.

With 60% of DRC’s children unregistered at birth, this World Bank funded, multi-agency program aims to register 2.4 million children and produce 600,000 birth certificates. The program has two streams: digitalization of the current Civil Registry and allow children enrolled in nursery and primary schools to register for free should they belong to the undocumented group. The data collection process was launched in April 2019 in the schools of Kinshasa, and is now entering its second phase with the integration of the registration data from the Civil Registry system into the Population Registry using the OSIA interface.

Coming soon

The central civil registration system was integrated with the central biometric system managing citizens' digital identities, with the two systems communicating via an interface compliant with the OSIA standard. Indeed, the two systems are closely linked:
- When the state system validates a new birth certificate, it will first request a new National Identity Number (NNI) from the system, which will follow the newborn throughout their life and be included on birth certificate extracts and copies.
- It will also notify the identity system of the new birth, and the identity system will create a record in the personal identity database for the newborn, using the alphanumeric data provided by the civil registry.
This record will be updated with the individual's biometric data when they register to obtain their national identity card.